60
b.c. - 938 a.d. What is presently Vietnam is the
southern
frontier province of the Chinese Empire.

939-
17th Century. Vietnam is independent after collapse
of
T'ang dynasty. Although Lé dynasty survives as titular
authority,
in fact, from 1558 Nguyen rules Hué and the south, and Trinh
rules
in Hanoi and the north. Serious trouble between north and south
begins
in 1620s when Hué refuses to accept the assumed authority of the
Trinh over border province in central Annam.

18th
Century Period of Expansionism.
Vietnam
becomes expansionist power at expense of neighboring Lao, Khmer, and
Cham
people, regarded as being outside proper Confucian civilization.
(Vietnamese history textbooks today describe this southward advance as
"opening up empty lands".)

1771-1802
Civil war. Peasant rebellion led by Tayson brothers of Binh Dinh
of south-central Vietnam destroys what is left of the Lé dynasty
and elevates the Taysons.

1802
Tayson power collapses and is replaced by Nguyen
dynasty.
Families formerly privileged now became outcasts under Gia-long.

1802-1820
Nguyen dynasty begins with the rule of Gia-long.

1815
The Tale of Kiéu published by Nguyén Du, who had
fallen from favor for supporting the Taysons during the rebellion.

1820
Minh-mang, Gia-long's fourth son by a concubine,assumes power. In
1825 Minh-mang outlaws the spread of Christianity; persecution of
Catholics
and the execution of priests began in 1830.

1841-1847
During reign of Thieu-tri, French gunboats arrive in Vietnam on behalf
of imprisoned Catholic missionaries (a move inspired by the
success
of British "gunboat diplomacy" in South China.

1848-1860
While wars raged in Europe and America, and the Taiping rebellion
claimed
scores of millions of lives in China, in Vietnam 325 priests and 30,000
Vietnamese Catholics were killed by the government. The French
Navy
responded by conquering Vietnam.

1862
Treaty of Saigon ratified French victory and created the colony called
"Cocinchina". Three more provinces occupied in 1867 completed the
conquest.

"The
traditional Vietnamese political system was not well organized to allow
the indefinite peaceful competition and expression of many different
and
antithetical points of view ... (It) could not tolerate Catholic
evangelism, because Vietnamese traditions were based not upon the
modern
Western concept of separation of church and state but upon the concept
of the state as the political expression of the elite.
Catholicism,
if it made inroads among the elite, would obviously affect the nature
of
elite ideology. As Gia-long had implied to Pigneau in 1792, then
the nature of the state would have to change as well.

--Steinberg et. al., 1987:135

1827-1871
Nguyen Truong To, a Catholic official well-traveled in Europe, attempts
to implement Western-inspired reforms similar to those proposed by the
Taipings in China, and with the same effect (nil, nada, zilch). Legend
says that To died from acute melancholia at seeing his country drifting
toward disaster and from being unable to prevent it.

Early
20th Century. Internal intellectual and moral struggles erupted
between
Catholic and anti-Catholic Vietnamese, and between those collaborating
with the French and those wishing to drive them out of Indochina.
Prominent in the latter group was the Vietnamese Communist Party lead
by
Ho Chi Minh.

1942
European "master race" concept ignominiously defeated by the Imperial
Army
of Japan. The occupation
transforms the Communists from "revolutionaries" to heroic "freedom
fighters"
against the Japanese Imperial Army.

1945
The Japanese' own version of the "master race" concept ignominiously
defeated
by the Allied Army of the Pacific and Vietnamese guerrillas. At
the
same time, however, South Vietnam is re-occupied by the French, while

North
Vietnam is invaded by 180,000 Chinese troops hoping to replace Ho Chi
Minh
with politicians favorable to Chiang Kai-shek. In response, Ho
daringly
invites French army into North Vietnam as counterweight to Chinese
occupation.

1949
Mao Tse-tung's Communists seize power in China.

1954
French colonial experiment ends in military disaster at Dienbienphu.

1953-1960
Land Reform disinvesting thousands of peasants from their family
landholdings
leads to bloody violence; Communists finally admit mistakes in
"rectification
of errors" campaign.

1955-1975
Ho Chi Minh's Communists govern North Vietnam from Hanoi while
succession
of leaders, with help from their American patrons, govern South Vietnam
from Saigon. U.S. policy guided by Cold War and, in
particular,
by the "Domino Theory" through three presidents: Eisenhower,
Kennedy,
and Johnson. The policies of "best and brightest" fail in the end
owing to lack of political support in the U.S.

1965
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution authorizes President Johnson to increase U.S.
forces in Vietnam to 550,000.

1968
Tet Offensive inflicts major defeat on U.S. forces in the field and
dooms
the Johnson presidency.

1972
Nixon defeats McGovern after promising that "Peace is at Hand".
War
rages for three more years.

1973
Paris Peace Agreement ends direct American involvement in
Vietnam.
It is only a matter of time before
the North Vietnamese army overruns the south.

1975
U.S. abandons embassy and pulls out of Saigon; thousands given
sanctuary
in the U.S.; thousands more
"boat people" flee the chaos. The victorious army re-names the
southern
capital Ho Chi Minh City.

1978-1979
Vietnam invades Cambodia and ousts the Chinese-backed Khmer
Rouge.
In retaliation, China invades three northern provinces of Vietnam, but
are quickly defeated.

1980-1990
Economic disasters rampant; causes assigned to corruption, inept
central
planning, and overdependence
on foreign aid from Soviet Union. The problems
partly relieved by free-market reforms. In 1981 the foreign debt to USSR
was so great that Vietnam agreeed to repay part of it by
sending thousands of workers to labor in Soviet factories and mines
(cf. background for Paradise
of the Blind). In 1986 the government decided to grant
more freedom for literature and the arts through the 'renovation
agenda' but this was revoked in 1990 and many artists went to
jail. (Guess why.)

1993
Relations with China improve leading to state visit to China by
Vietnam's
President Le Duc Anh.

1994
U.S. lifts 19-year economic embargo against Vietnam.

1997
Hoped-for status as next Asian "mini-dragon" is fading from view as the
economy hits the wall.